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The squeaky wheel gets the grease. After community input, Caltrans agrees to safety improvements for Highway 17 drivers, so let’s grab this opportunity to improve the shoulder along California State Route 17 from Bear Creek Road to Alma Bridge Road along Lexington Reservoir.

Caltrans responds to petition for Highway 17 safety improvements

Caltrans is driven by data, but they also pay attention to online problem reports, especially when they see a spike in reports. I don’t know if it’s possible to game this system, but Caltrans District 4 (which covers the San Francisco Bay Area, including Santa Clara County aka the “South Bay”), responded very quickly after an effort organized on Facebook resulted in an inundation of problem reports regarding hazardous conditions on the infamous “Highway 17.

Highway 17 is the main thoroughfare between homes in coastal Santa Cruz and jobs in Silicon Valley. The highway is a winding, mountain road that rises from near sea level, up to 1800 feet, and back down to 100 feet above sea level where State Route 17 becomes I-880 at I-280. Challenging geography and budget constraints meant engineers compromised on design features when they constructed this road in the 1940s. Danger increases in wet weather.

After a decade of drought during an era of significant population and job growth, a series of atmospheric rivers slammed northern California this past winter, resulting in a dramatic increase in collisions on this highway.

Some Facebook group members organized an effort to plead with Caltrans to improve safety on Highway 17. They won’t get the significant engineering they wish for, but Caltrans did move quickly to begin smaller safety improvements, namely higher friction pavement and improved guardrails. This project covers State Route 17 from Summit Road north to Alma Bridge Road just north of Lexington Reservoir.

Rumble Strips and bicycles

Interestingly (for me), safety improvements like this come in a package, a bit like a combo meal from a fast food restaurant. The Highway 17 safety package will include shoulder rumble strips. Rumble strips are used where run-off-the-road crashes due to inattention are a problem. Those who routinely travel 17 understand inattention probably is not a problem on this road.

Nonetheless, Sergio Ruiz, who runs the Pedestrian a Bicycle Program for Caltrans D4 out of Oakland, reached out to cyclists who ride over the Santa Cruz Mountains due to the hazards of rumble strips for cyclists. Several of us pointed out that almost everybody avoids Highway 17 altogether by riding other mountain roads, so Caltrans can add rumble strips to their heart’s content.

As an aside, though, I mentioned the drainage grates and crappy condition of the shoulder forces us to move out into the auxiliary lane here.

Sergio picked up on this and said he would try to get shoulder improvements for cyclists added into this overall safety project.

Can we encourage Caltrans to leverage an existing project and add this small bit of shoulder to their much larger safety project? If you ride this short stretch of Highway 17 on your bicycle, drop a note to Caltrans PIO forSanta Clara County, Victor Gauthier (Victor.Gauthier@dot.ca.gov) and mention that you would like the shoulder improved here as part of an existing safety project, since Caltrans has to tear the pavement up anyway.

The motoring group also contacted the California Office of Traffic Safety, Santa Clara County Supervisor Mike Wasserman, the California Transportation Commission, the office of Senator Jim Beall, and various other decision makers. I’m told some of these people received upwards of 1,000 emails, which is enough to get anyone’s attention.

They’ll start from Pittsburg / Bay Point BART at 9 AM on Saturday and bike the 68 miles to the Sacramento Convention Center, with estimated 4 PM arrival. The last time NAHBS took place in Sacramento, I watched a guy on a beer-hauling bike arrive with this crew.

They’ll have regroups every 10 miles, and lunch regroups at Rio Vista Bridge and Steamboat Slough. I’m not sure if this is strictly a “no drop” ride, but if the group is large enough I expect it might split off into a fast group and a casual group. See the Facebook event page for rules, route map, and other details.

The transit option for the full distance is the Capitol Corridor train. Fare from San Jose to Sac is $39, but this train has all kinds of deals and promotions, especially on the weekends. Advance purchase may be required for these deals. It’s a mile from Sacramento Amtrak to the convention center.

I’m curious about anybody who plans to drive out on Friday afternoon and return on Sunday. The Tahoe region has epic snow this season, so I expect I-80 and every back road between the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento will test the patience of many drivers.

Don Walker of NAHBS says ticket pre-sales have hit record numbers. The last time NAHBS was in Sacramento, the show was inundated with cycling enthusiasts flocking from all over Northern California and Nevada. If you show up on Saturday or Sunday, expect lines for ticket sales to wrap around the block, so buy your tickets now.

In June 2017, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board of Directors approved a contract with a vendor to provide three-position exterior bike racks for their bus fleet. The award has been contested, and VTA is required to conduct a new procurement process. Individuals who were previously involved in the prior procurement process are not permitted to participate in this new procurement process. This includes anyone who provided comment on the previously approved design and vendor.

If you have not provided comment before, you are invited to review and comment on sample three-position racks TODAY, Thursday, October 19 2017, from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM at the Cerone Bus Yard, 3990 Zanker Road, San Jose, CA 95134. Find the sample racks at the flagpole at this remote bus yard up by 237 on Zanker Road in north San Jose.

Check out the new two-way cycle track and bike signal for Sunset Avenue & Hopkins Drive at Story Road, San Jose, California during the ribbon cutting ceremony this Thursday, August 31, 2017 at 6 P.M.

Background

Sunset Avenue provides a north-sound connection across I-680 free of the high speed highway access ramp just north of Story Road. Other nearby crossings either have freeway ramps or, in the case of Highway 101, the crossing is completely inaccessible to cyclists and pedestrians.

Southbound cyclists at Story Road, however, cannot easily make the dogleg turn to Hopkins. The median on Story Road prevents left turns from Sunset. This engineering change normalizes what cyclists already practice to get across a tricky intersection.